Sedgwick County Commissioners' Race
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http://theqandatimes.com/files/media/UserImages/" /> | Gwen Welshimer served twelve years in the Kansas House of Representatives. She has a record of competence, caring and fiscal discipline. She introduced legislation, now law, that reduced state income tax for single taxpayers. Her bill removed the tax on zoo memberships and another provided a $9,000 tax credit on new construction and remodeling for the disabled. Gwen played a major role in reducing property tax in Wichita’s USD 259 by 27% in 1992. As a member of the Kansas House, she served on the House committees for Taxation, Economic Development, Health and Human Services, and was ranking minority member on Local Government. Gwen was the founder of the Great Plains Comprehensive Agriculture and Medical Institute, which combined research efforts among our state universities. She is an emeritus member of United Methodist Urban Ministry and past president of Planeview Lions Club. She is Vice President of the Sedgwick County Federation of Democratic Women. Gwen is a real estate broker, appraiser, and property tax consultant. She can be reached at 316-685-1930 or gwelshimer@sbcglobal.net. Her website is www.gwenwelshimer.com and she is a candidate for Sedgwick County Commission, District #5 which is Southeast Wichita, Derby and Mulvane. |
Gwen Welshimer
2006-11-01 15:34:00
Is the property tax system in Kansas fair and equal?
ANSWER: It would be better to say the property valuation system in Kansas is about fair and equal assessed valuation. The amount of tax we pay is about county budgets and spending. Let me give you a bit of history.
In 1985, the counties were mandated by the Kansas Legislature to appraise every parcel of real estate using the same market methods as a fee appraiser. The purpose was to provide taxpayers statewide with "fair and equal property taxation." The "fair and equal" process was diluted to some extent by the difference between the fee process and the county mass appraisal process. The county would not view the interior of the structures and county appraisers would not need to be licensed and regulated by the Kansas Real Estate Appraisal Board.
January 1, 1989 was the completion date for the initial Kansas Reappraisal.
It was also the beginning of the multi-level appeals process and the following years of agony for Kansas' property taxpayers. The Kansas Department of Revenue's Property Valuation Department was to provide oversight and technical support to the counties. That oversight became less intense over the following years, due mostly to political pressure from the counties. The State's expectation that the counties would reduce the mil levy when property values were rising faded too. If Sedgwick County, the City of Wichita, and other taxing authorities had reduced their mil levy in the years that followed to adjust for rising values countywide, property tax increases would have been small or nonexistent, except for those properties with capital improvements.
In 1989, a public protest petition procedure was included in the system. If successful on the ballot, it would roll back a countywide property tax increase. The Legislature repealed this right to protest in 1999 under political pressure from the counties. Today, neither the state nor the public has statutory power to stop counties from collecting more in property taxes for expanding budgets, other than the ballot box.
Since 1999, Sedgwick County property tax collections have increased about 42 percent. Not all counties have delivered similar increases, but many have. This raises the issue of whether the state should backtrack and repeal its previous repeal of the petition process or create a new type of regulation. Unfortunately this can't happen in time to help taxpayers this year. But if regulation is passed during the 2007 Session of the Kansas Legislature, it might help taxpayers in 2008. We're receiving an 8.8 percent mil levy increase this year, in addition to any increase in appraised value our properties have experienced. Sedgwick County mass appraisal tends to be about two years behind the current market, so we may continue to experience substantial valuation increases in 2008 and 2009. We'll also experience tax increases in these years unless county commissioners, together with other local taxing authorities, compensate for total valuation increases with a reduction in mil levies.
The appraisal system in Kansas provides potential for fair and equal taxation, but politics and budgets can distort that goal.
